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November 29, 2010

Book Review: The Japanese skincare revolution, by Chizu Saeki

The topic.
Chizu Saeki worked in the beauty industry for 45 years. She isn't a beautician or a makeup artist, nor a dermatologist: she worked in HR, and eventually became responsible of training sales associates for luxury brands like Dior.
This book is explaining the techniques she developed over the years to take care of hers and her client's skin.
Basically, she claims that your hands are the best tools when it comes to skincare and that with the right technique you can solve any skincare issue and stay young-looking and beautiful through the years. She says that you'll never need to go the the beauty salon again once you have learned these techniques.

What I didn't like.
Let's get the negative points of the way right now:

Chizu Saeki says going to the beauty salon is unnecessary, yet she owns and runs one, which I find a bit ironic.

While in the introduction she explains that your hands will do all the job, she then proceeds to give you the list of skincare products that you'll need, and that isn't a short list. Makeup remover, lotion, serums, creams, scrubs... the whole collection. So if you planned on saving on products by using the miracle hands method, forget about it. Also, she does recommends products in each categories, that aren't cheap either, like my beloved Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair serum which is the most expensive thing I own in my whole beauty collection! Definitely, not a cheap approach.

I was hoping for a miracle solution for blackheads, however her advice is to not extract them and exfoliate twice a week. Duh.

What I did enjoy learning.

The lotion mask, which is at the heart of the book. That's actually the reason I bought it, after a good friend of mine had told me about this technique. Basically, it consists of soaking cotton pads with water and lotion and applying on the face for 3 minutes. I'd say it's Chizu Saeki's solution to every skin problem, and I'm guessing you can adapt the lotion to your skin needs, and even use different ones on different areas if you wanted. I must say this is quite pleasant and it does nicely plum the skin!

To make the mask even more efficient, you can get an easy steam treatment by adding either plastic film or a shower cap on your face. Of course, you're allowed to cut out holes in them so you can breathe. I haven't tried this yet but my friend swears it works great.

Several massage techniques to use while applying your skincare, that are supposed to help with keeping your skin in perfect condition, help with wrinkles, texture and even sagging.

How this is working for me.

If I am totally honest, I need to say that even moisturizing my legs on a daily basis is a commitment I find hard to make. Anything that requires time or waiting just bores me, I guess. But I do try and use the massage techniques when I cleanse my face or apply my moisturizer, at least at night.

The lotion mask feels very nice whenever my skin is feeling tight, sensitive or needs moisture, so that's definitely something I'm adopting. I even ordered cotton face-shaped masks from eBay (they're pretty cheap this way) so I could do them easily without having to use a ton of pads.

Overall a good book if you're a skincare addict and willing to invest some more time in your skincare routine with those techniques. But I wouldn't expect miracle solutions for difficult skincare conditions - unless some of you have experience to share on this matter.